Videos can hold so much important information and memories. When they're damaged, they can become unplayable, and precious memories can be lost forever.

Your video not playing issue could be due to battery drainage during the party recording that corrupted the footage. It could also be that a power failure occurred while transferring the video to another device, resulting in a damaged file. Unfortunately, some people accidentally delete the unplayable video before attempting to recover it.

A corrupted video can mean the loss of precious content for many people. Fortunately, this article will explain what causes videos to become damaged and how you can recover them for free. You can either use the VLC media player to convert them to another format or repair them with Online Video Repair, an online professional tool. Now, let's learn how to fix unplayable video files with these two free solutions.

Why can't the video play?

There are several reasons why a video file might be unreadable, damaged, or unplayable. Here are some possible causes:

    • The video file got corrupted due to a power outage, improper shutdown, or hard drive failure.
    • The playback failed because of a hardware issue with your computer.
    • The video editor or camera didn't create the file correctly.
    • Pixilation on the playback device due to high resolution, which is often too much for the device to handle.
    • There's an issue with the file you downloaded using BitTorrent.
    • The video got corrupted during the conversion process.
    • The video became corrupted after getting infected with a virus while downloading or uploading online.
    • The video was altered by another video editor during the editing process, causing corruption.

Repair unplayable video files with free online video repair tools

<a href="https://repair.tools.com/" target="_blank">Online Video Repair Tool is a free online tool to fix corrupted videos. Whether you have stored the video on a flash drive or downloaded it from the internet, you can use it to recover unplayable videos.</a>

The process is quick and simple. Just go to the tool's website, enter your email address, and try using the tool. You'll get the final result for free.

To get an idea of how powerful Online Video Repair can be in dealing with various video error scenarios, check out the following features:

    • Works with almost any browser. No software installation or purchase required.
    • Repairs videos that got corrupted during editing, conversion, transfer, or recovery. It can also fix videos damaged due to malware, battery issues during recording, and more.
    • The Online Video Repair tool is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, Android, and iOS.
    • RepairVideo supports all popular video formats, such as 3GP, M4V, FLV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MKV, WMV, SWF, MP3, MPEG, 3G2, RM/RMVB, and more.
    • Fixes damaged videos on devices from LG, Sony, HTC, Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, ZTE, and more. It also repairs videos from cameras and dashcams, as well as videos from USB flash drives, point-and-shoot cameras, CCTV, and damaged hard drives.

Step 1. Visit the official site of Online Video Repair. Add the corrupted MP4/MOV/AVI/MKV/3GP/FLV/MKV/WMV video file by clicking on “Upload Video” or simply dragging and dropping it.

Repair Video Step 1

< strong > Step 2. Enter your email address and click on “Start Repair” to begin the repair process. Make sure you enter a valid email address because the tool will send the extraction code to the provided email address.

Fix Video Step 2

Step 3: Wait for the process to complete. You don't have to stay on this page, as you can return via the link in the email.

Repair Video Step 3

Step 4: Check your email for the message from the tool. Copy the extraction code, then click the "View Repair" button to revisit the site. Click "Download Video," and enter the code you received. Click "OK" to download your repaired video.

Fix Video Step 4

Utilize the Fixo tool to repair unplayable video files.

With professional software like Fixo Video Repair, you can fix any type of video. Compared to the online RepairVideo tool, Fixo is more suitable for recovering large video files and offers higher security since it's a professional solution that runs on the user's local device.

Repairing a damaged video with the Fixo tool is straightforward. Once you've selected your unplayable MP4 file, just click the repair button.

The software will take care of the rest and fix the corrupted video file.

Step 1: Launch Fixo on your local PC. Click on “Video Repair,” and then add the corrupted MP4/MOV/AVI/MKV/3GP/FLV/WMV video file by clicking on “Add Video.”

Repair videos with Fixo

Step 2: Move the pointer to the video you want to fix and click on the "Repair" button to start the single video repair process. Click on "Repair All" to fix all the videos.

Select the video files that you want to repair select videos to repair

Step 3: Wait a few minutes for the software to repair the damaged video. Preview the video by clicking the Play icon. If you want to save an individual video, click the "Save" button next to the Play icon. To save all the repaired videos, choose "Save All."

Save the repaired video in Fixo

Step 4: If the quick fix doesn't work, you should try the advanced repair mode. Click on “Advanced Repair” and add a sample video. Select “Confirm” to proceed.

Add sample video for advanced repair

Step 5: A detailed list of corrupted and sample videos will be displayed. Click on “Repair Now” to start the advanced video repair process. Once the repair is complete, you can preview the video and save the repaired video file to the desired location by clicking on the “Save” button.

Click "Repair Now" to begin the advanced repair.

Repairing Unplayable Video Files Using VLC

With VLC Media Player, you can easily view and play various types of media files, regardless of the codecs they might require. It's a free and open-source media player that runs on all platforms.

VLC started out as a simple media player with few features, but over time, add-ons have increased its capabilities.

Using VLC Media Player is a simple and straightforward experience. One of VLC's many features is its ability to play videos while they're downloading, among other things.

With VLC Media Player, you can also convert a video file to another format in an attempt to fix it. Follow these steps to try and recover a corrupted video file using VLC Media Player:

Step 1: Click the “Media” tab at the top of the VLC application. Then, click “Convert/Save.”

VLC Media Conversion

Click the “Add” button on the right to import videos to the conversion list.

Add to VLC Convert

Step 3. In the Convert box, type the name and location for your file.

Open the video file

Step 4. Click “Convert/Save” to open a new window. Click the “VLC profile” tab to select an input codec.

Select Profile

Step 5: Click the "Start" button, and VLC will begin converting your video file.

Start Converting

Conclusions

There are many reasons why video is such a great way to preserve memories – which is why it's so important to do it right.

Video files can become corrupted for a number of reasons, including power outages, viruses, and human error. You can try to recover them by using the VLC Media Player to transcode the file to another format.

If your video file is corrupted, recovery tools can also fix unplayable videos. A powerful and professional video file recovery tool, such as Online Video Repair, can help restore damaged, corrupted, or unplayable video files.

It can almost certainly recover any kind of video from a wide range of devices, including smartphones and high-end digital cameras.